How does the millennial generation influence your workplace, our community, and the world? Writer, filmmaker, and millennial storyteller David Burstein tells the nuanced story of a generation that is pragmatic enough to navigate constant change, and creative enough to chart their own paths despite beginning their careers in a troubling economy.

The attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs that members of this generation bring with them are already shaping our campuses and our workplaces. At the Omaha event, Burstein will connect his national perspective with our local experiences, the conversation promises to uncover some patterns that will be valuable for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and others interested in strengthening the creative community here in Omaha.

We are in the midst of a significant generational change in the United States with more than 80 million people between the age of 18 and 30 entering the workforce, enrolling in higher education, and influencing our lives in multiple ways. It’s easy to hear the latest version of “kids these days stories” but the truth is far more complex and far more interesting.

In his book and his other work, Burstein argues that the millennial generation’s blend of idealism, pragmatism and ability to navigate constant and fast change will help them solve the country’s and the world’s grand challenges. Millennials are more ethnically and racially diverse than their elders, they are the first generation to come of age in a truly global world, and the first to come of age in the new digital era.

Burstein is also the founder and executive director of Generation18, a nonpartisan youth voter engagement organization. The organization grew out of the documentary film, 18 in ’08, which David directed and produced about young voters in the 2008 election. His 2012 follow up film, Up to Us, produced with OurTime.org and Comcast, focused on the optimism and resilience of the Millennial Generation in the face of the economic crisis and their continued desire to vote and participate in public service. David is a contributor to Fast Company, where he writes about disruptive innovation, social entrepreneurship, creativity, film, and television.

About the Author:Dan Gilbert is a special assistant to the senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at University of Nebraska at Omaha and is also the founder of Learning Innovations, a learning, design, and technology consulting practice. In these roles he works with educators at all levels to dream up, carry out, and evaluate innovative learning activities.